Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Taking his inspiration from Occupy Wall Street, Villanova shooting guard Dominic Cheek announced today that he would be forming his own movement to protect the interests of "The 27%" or people who miss more than seven of ten three point shots. In his press conference, Cheek said: "I don't know if people understand what it's like when you have an opportunity to take a contested fade-away three point shot in a critical situation.. It's pretty hard to pass up." Cheek's decision to form a movement sparked immediate disgust amongst the Villanova fanbase, who have threatened to riot if he shoots another three point shot.

Cheek remains indifferent to the reactions of the fanbase though, explaining "These people been against me since day one.. They don't know how I ball."

Friday, January 27, 2012

Tomorrow at noon at the Wells Fargo Center, Villanova will take on Marquette for the second time this season. The teams previously met on January 1st, with Marquette sneaking away with an 81-77 win after a furious late game charge by Villanova. The Golden Eagles are led by senior Shooting Guard Darius Johnson-Odom, who is averaging 18 points per game, and senior forward Jae Crowder, who is adding 16 points and 7.5 rebounds.

Ken Pomeroy's computer rankings index has Marquette as the 19th best team in the nation based on the fact that they're in the top 30 in the country in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Villanova is markedly worse in both categories. While this game is probably winnable, Villanova needs to do some things markedly different (bench Dominic Cheek) in order to pull off an upset.

As far as betting is concerned, the line is only 1.5 points, so this game is essentially a pick 'em. Judging by the fact that Marquette is extremely hot right now, having won their last five games, I'd lean towards picking them to cover the spread, but I'm not too confident because I have no idea which Villanova team will show up.

After defensive coordinator Mark Reardon left to become a high school coach, and defensive line coach Dave Sollazzo left for UMass after only one season, the Villanova football team has filled their vacancies by promoting linebackers coach/special teams coordinator Billy Crocker to defensive coordinator, hiring former Whitehall High School head coach Tony Trisciani to coach the secondary, and Eastern Illinois defensive coordinator/associate head coach Roc Bellantoni to coach the defensive line. It's worth noting that Trisciani was starting quarterback Chris Polony's head coach in high school, and Bellantoni was on the Eastern Illinois staff with current wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Brian Flinn from 2002-2005.

Crocker will be the first new defensive coordinator for Villanova in eight season, and was promoted for the second time in two seasons after replacing Clint Wiley as both the linebacker coach and special teams coordinator last season.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

In what has become the largest source of frustration in this Villanova season, Dominic Cheek keeps shooting threes at an alarming rate, despite the fact that he misses more than seven out of ten of his attempts.

I hate criticizing college athletes, and I try my hardest not to, but I cannot handle this degree of fucktardery and I have no idea how Cheek does it. Anyone with half a brain should know that you should stop doing something when your rate of conversion is 28% unless that thing is the lottery. If he were playing suffocating defense, protecting the ball, or grabbing 12 rebounds a game, I might be able to forgive the poor shooting, but the fact is that he is doing none of those things and I find it hard to reconcile the fact that he continues to get minutes.

The fact is that this gun slinging comes at a detriment to the team, and it's continued far too long. Until it stops, Villanova fans should continue to point it out. How the media hasn't needled the coach about this is beyond me.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

In an absolutely unwatchable game that was taken over by the officials, Villanova lost 84-74 to Louisville, just missing the spread. Maalik Wayns got into foul trouble early in the second half, and Jay Wright probably kept him out too long. Altogether though, the officials were the assholes in this game and made it so that it was difficult to watch.

Spurred by high profile incidents from other schools, Villanova signed up for a service called "Varsity Monitor" which monitors the social media presence of college athletes. Students are forced to participate, and it doesn't matter what their privacy settings were previously. Some may wonder why the athletes care unless they have something to hide, but athletes who are deemed worthy to attend a school such as Villanova should be granted a degree of trust and privacy based on the fact that they were able to get into such a selective institution. Incidents at other schools should be irrelevant, because this problem has yet to rear its head at Villanova.

If I'm a prospective student athlete, such snooping would make me think twice about picking Villanova, and that alone should be enough to give them pause. Unfortunately though, this is the way that the world is moving and pretty soon, everyone will be spying on us.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

If there's any team that I like to beat, it's Louisville. I don't like beating Louisville because of any of the players or the school itself, but rather because of their premature ejaculator head coach Rick Pitino. I despise Pitino. I despise his outspokenness. I despise his greasiness. I despise that white suit he's worn a few times. Most of all, I despise his accent. So naturally, when Karen Sypher attempted to extort him, I found it hilarious. But I digress, back to the real matters at hand.

Louisville is a school with an arena named after a fast food company, which is awesome. After starting the season on a strong note, The Cardinals have struggled in Big East play to the tune of a 3-4 record in conference, only percentage points better than Villanova's 3-5 record. According to Ken Pomeroy's computer, their national ranking of 25 overvalues them, as he has them at 40th, owing mostly to the fact that they have the 139th most efficient offense in the country. On the other hand, their defense is superb, ranking 10th in defensive efficiency. Short story: the higher scoring this game is, the better it looks for Villanova because they're the stronger offensive team, and if they're able to penetrate the Louisville press, they're more likely to be able to continue to make shots. What I don't know is if Villanova will be able to protect the ball, something they've struggled with all season, even in wins.

Surprisingly, I don't feel terrible about this game, but I could be wrong. I hope this team shows my optimism is warranted tomorrow night.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Let's get this straight: Villanova is not making the NCAA tournament without intervention from a higher power. With ten losses in their first 20 games, it would take an extraordinary amount of luck as well as a demonstrably higher level of play overall.

So that begs one question: Is anything less than the NIT an acceptable outcome for 2012? My answer is an emphatic no. Starting in 1994, the NIT has served as a spring board for some of Villanova's best teams, and with every game of experience, this team will only get better. Since this team isn't going to make the big dance, let alone make any noise, making the NIT and winning games is just about the only feasible outcome.

Obviously, missing the NCAA tourney will suck, but as long as this team gets better, that's a good thing, and don't forget the fact that every major contributor is slated to come back next year, making a deep tournament run next season a possibility.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Coming off an actual victory against a real (able bodied) college basketball team, Villanova will head to New York tomorrow to take on St. John's, who are not very good. This is the first time in quite a while where Villanova should actually be the favorites as the Red Storm are very bad on both offense and defense, as opposed to only being bad at defense, like a certain team from the Main Line.

Betting websites are saying that Villanova is anywhere from 1.5 to 2 point favorite. In that case, bet on The 'Cats. The game is tomorrow afternoon at 1 o'clock on ESPNU.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

I have heard from a source that Jay Wright will be personally scouting Gill St. Bernard's School (NJ) point guard Jaren Sina (Class of 2013)Thursday night. Rivals rates Sina as the #86 player in the country, and he was previously a verbal commitment to Alabama. The book on Sina is that he's very good at handling the ball, and an excellent shooter. With a team that has poor shooting as its Achilles Heel this season, you can be sure that Jay never wants to see this shit again.

In other recruiting news, Villanova commitment Ryan Arcidiacono was at the Seton Hall game, and is apparently working out again as he recovers from back surgery.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Villanova hasn't lost to Seton Hall in a long time. Unfortunately, Seton Hall might be good this year, and Villanova is just putrid. Still though, we can hold out hope that Villanova will win, right? Right??

Second year Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard has been able to capitalize on the contributions of holdovers from his handbag stealing predecessor, such as Herb Pope and Jordan Theodore plus contributions from newcomers that he recruited himself. Both Pope and Theodore are playing like All-Big East players at this point, so trying to neutralize one of them is probably a better strategy than trying to neutralize both.

But who are we kidding? This team is just going to disappoint us anyway, right?

Thursday, January 12, 2012

In what seems like a microcosm of the season so far, Maalik Wayns and Dominic Cheek were absolutely pitiful against Syracuse. Despite the fact that they are two of Villanova's three leading scorers, it is glaringly obvious that this team isn't getting better, and it's even more alarming that they have continued to shoot threes at a painful rate. I guess this would be okay if either of them played acceptable defense, but they don't. At the very least, Jay Wright must realize that Cheek and Wayns' respective styles of playsimply cannot coexist on the same court and decides to limit the amount of time they spend on the court together. He also needs to tell them to stop shooting threes. When you're 3-10 at anything, you probably need to reconsider doing it.

Replacements? Well, James Bell and JayVaughn Pinkston seem to be good options. Or, you know, me, because I wouldn't take a ton of shots and miss all of them, and I may even improve the defense.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Let's get this straight: A Villanova victory against Syracuse would be such an anomaly that I have little hope it can happen. Not only is Syracuse the top ranked team in the country in the polls, they're also ranked fifth by Ken Pomeroy's ratings index on the strength of one of the best offenses in the nation as well as a very efficient defense. Villanova on the other hand 82nd in the KenPom ratings and plays absolutely terrible defense, and just average offense.

Needless to say, matchup does not look good, especially when you look at Syracuse's style of play. Jim Boeheim coached Syracuse teams play nearly exclusively a 2-3 matchup zone defense, which is most easily exploited when a team can shoot from outside and run an offense from the outside in, which means that it's nearly perfectly designed to defend against teams with players like Maalik Wayns and Dominic Cheek. For Villanova to win, they'll need to get some extraordinary luck and make mistakes at a much lower rate than they do now.

Villanova wins if: They get extraordinarily lucky, and Syracuse gets extraordinarily unlucky.Villanova loses if: Syracuse actually shows up and doesn't shit the bed.Betting line: Villanova is getting eight points. Given Villanova's record against the spread, go with Syracuse.

First off, let me start off by saying this: I unfollowed Seth Davis on twitter a while ago because I thought he was a jackass. The fact that the guy has 70,000 followers is an insult to people who actually have intelligent things to say. I wasn't surprised when I saw his answer to a question about Villanova that someone I follow retweeted.

His answer leads me to this: How could a team that wasn't picked to do anything of note be underachieving? The only way that you could interpret this team as an underachieving one is if you follow recruiting rankings religiously, which any journalist worth his salt shouldn't. As for a chemistry problem, there has been nothing to evidence that whatsoever, and frankly it just sounds like Seth is pulling something out of his ass so he can sound smart.

The simple fact is that Villanova isn't any good this season because they're young, they can't shoot and they can't play defense. There is zero evidence that this team doesn't get along, and suggesting otherwise is irresponsible.

Monday, January 9, 2012

In direct response to his struggles playing point guard, Jay Wright decided to try something new: Maalik Wayns at a different position. The very idea of Wayns at a position called "shooting guard" is enough to make the average Villanova fan get heart palpitations. You know what though? It actually makes sense. If Wayns has the ball on fewer possessions, he'll be in less of a position to impulsively shoot terrible shots, and he'll be forced to move off the ball. In the role of ball-distributor, he took a ton of terrible shots and wasn't in good position to take the shots he did take.

In this role, the point guard can use discretion and simply keep the ball away from Wayns when he's in the shooting (and missing) mood. This is a win-win for the entire team!

In case you were out (I was) Villanova actually won a game yesterday, beating DePaul 87-71 despite turning the ball over 28 times (bleh). How is that possible, you ask? Well, it helps when you shoot an astonishing 56% from the floor, make over 79% of your free throws, only waste 10 of your field goal attempts on three pointers, and play against a very bad offensive team.

To make the day even better, both Dominic Cheek and Maalik Wayns played well, but the most effective player on the floor for either team was JayVaughn Pinkston, who scored 13 points on 4-5 shooting in only 13 minutes on the floor.

In the poor play department, Markus Kennedy had only three points in 34 points, turned the ball over a ridiculous seven times, but HE FINALLY MADE A FREE THROW! He's now 1-12 on the season from the free throw line. Ty Johnson turned the ball over eight times, and Wayns had six turnovers. If Villanova actually wins games going forward, I kind of want to see Kennedy have a historically futile season from the line, just for morbid entertainment.

The next game will be against Syracuse Correctional Center at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday.

Friday, January 6, 2012

As I was perusing the intergoogle today, searching for dick jokes and sports news, I came across the ridiculous punishment being levied against Xavier students who attended the game against Cincinnati that culminated in a brawl between players. Students who sat in the student section at that game will be required to attend one of three "reflection sessions" hosted by the school, or else they will be barred from attending Xavier games for the rest of the season.

As soon as I read that, I thought it was a joke. As someone who went to a high school that frequently punished many for the actions of few, I can sympathize with Xavier students for this ridiculous injustice. I can guarantee that the vast majority of Xavier students did absolutely nothing, and I couldn't believe that a school would take such a draconian stance against a group instead of individual wrongdoers.

Even if individual wrongdoers are punished, the mere suggestion that people in the stands were in any way responsible for the actions of the idiots on the court is absolutely ridiculous. If you can't find actual wrongdoing amongst individuals, you shouldn't be allowed to go after a group. Unfortunately though, academic types have never demonstrated anything other than complete and utter tone-deafness when it comes to matters of common sense.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Now they're under .500 for the first time since 2004, and I'm afraid they haven't hit bottom yet. Postseason chances are at an all time low, and I'm afraid that this is the worst team in recent Villanova history.

Editor's note: I had originally planned on posting this on New Year's day, but I got drunk and passed out, so I lost my opportunity to do so. There is still enough time for things to get better though.

For the New Year, I am willing to forgive all transgressions from earlier in the season if things change immediately. Here are my suggestions for certain Villanova basketball players in order for them to turn around their seasons.

Dominic Cheek- It's quite simple, stop shooting every three you think you can make, because it's obvious that you can't. If you're shooting more than two or three of them a game, you'd better be making 40% of them. If not, I will get an ulcer.

Maalik Wayns- Please drive to the hoop. You're as bad as Cheek at shooting threes, but you can drive to the basket as well as any Villanova player I've ever seeen and you're in the top 30 in the nation in free throw percentage. Drive to the hoop and pick up threes the old-fashioned way.

JayVaughn Pinkston- Turnovers are bad, especially when you're not playing a ball handling and distribution position where it's easier to have a lot of turnovers. Therefore, there is no excuse to be second to Wayns on the team in turnovers when you're a power forward who plays 12 fewer minutes a game than him. What makes it worse is the fact that the team is pretty careless with the ball anyway. Fewer turnovers would make for a greater 2012. Also, make your free throws.

Markus Kennedy- Make a free throw before you miss your tenth. All you need is to make one out of your next five.

Maurice Sutton- Make a useful contribution? I don't really know.

Achraf Yacoubou- Keep making 100 percent of your free throws, and I'll be able to ignore the fact that you're shooting worse than just about anyone on the team, except from outside.

James Bell- Play defense and stop disappearing. Other than that, the peripherals are solid, with the exception of the inside shooting.

Darrun Hilliard- Keep getting better. I like what I see so far.

Mouphtaou Yarou- Stop getting overpowered on the defensive end, and play better defense on backdoor cuts. I like what I see on offense, keep working on the jump shot.

Ty Johnson- 11% isn't even a good shooting percentage in hockey. Maybe wait until next year to take another three that isn't of the desperation variety.

Walk-ons- I hope I see you more in some wins.

Alright, tonight Villanova takes on USF. Pray to the Baby Jesus for a victory, and I'll be back later tonight if that victory happens.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Back in May, former Villanova basketball standout Will Sheridan made a surprise appearance on ESPN's Outside the Lines to publicly come out as gay. The reaction from the Villanova community was overwhelmingly positive, and the revelation that his teammates accepted him really says something about teammates of his like Randy Foye, Mike Nardi, Allan Ray and others.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Cheek took ten shots in 20 minutes against Marquette and only made three of them, including a 1-7 effort from three.

Cheek and Maalik Wayns are a combined 39 - 141 (27%) from downtown this season. That means that they combine for a little more than ten attempts per game, but they make less than three of them. That's an unacceptable trend that cannot continue.

Eventually, the blame has to go to the coach for allowing this fucktardery to continue, but somehow I'm not optimistic that it will stop. One thing you have to accept about Jay Wright is that he's not going to change his style that much, so you have to take the good with the bad and hope that things get better.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

It's getting a little bit tiring to say this but Villanova lost another game in which they were competitive in the first half, falling to Marquette 81-77. If it weren't for the first ten minutes of the second half, they probably would have won the game. What went wrong? Well, everything.. Fouls, turnovers, poor shooting, sub par free throw shooting, fucktardery and so on.

Dominic Cheek put in an absolutely brutal performance, scoring only six points on 2-10 shooting including 1-7 from outside, and eventually fouling out, joining three other Wildcats in that club. At .500 on this season, in a difficult conference, even an NIT berth seems unlikely at this point. At this point, it's all about preparing for next year and holding out for a miracle.